Idaho Wild Sheep

Idaho Wild Sheep

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
At a recent Sportsman's Show, I ran into Bill Louderback, with the Idaho Wild Sheep Foundation. Listen carefully...the audio's a little rough, but Bill had some proposals that domestic sheep producers might find a bit drastic. "Very candidly, domestic sheep, and it has been proven without a doubt for the last 15 years, the wild sheep are being poisoned by domestic sheep where the ranges overlap. We are working diligently with wool growers, as much as we can with the Department of Fish and Game and the legislature to take a look at domestic sheep allotments where wild sheep habitat is. We are working to establish buffer zones where we can have both wild and domestic sheep on a successful basis. When you say poisoned, do you mean pneumonia? Yes there are several varieties of it but basically our big horns are dying because of the spread of the disease. Is the proposed solution just to keep them separate? There are several proposed solutions, number one, is any wool grower can change to cattle. There are vacant domestic allotments where the wool grower could move is the mystic sheep and still have the same profits he has always had.
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